babynames | (no subject)

so he wants arabic names, i want "american" names as well as a chinese name. he is completely against the idea of using two middle names. as a compromise, we would do a simple arabic name that my very very asian father can pronounce. when i say very very asian, i'm talking the man still has trouble saying my name and its Julie. he just calls me by my chinese name.

actually, we kinda agreed with would be -

Arabic Chinese (or vietnamese since those can be spelled a little easier) Surname

now here's my problem...coming up with simple arabic names that my father can say and that people would pronounce correctly with relative ease. (my SO has an arabic name that well, no one pronounces properly. not even me. i know how to but im so used to using his nickname that its pointless)

I've got plenty of girl names - Leyla, Inara, Kadira, Azra, Aneesa

but not very many boy names...Aden, Samir, Radi

we would like names that are a little less uncommon than Mohommed and Hakeem (although my father can pronounce Hakeem thanks to Hakeem Olajawon)

anyone have ideas? thoughts? criticisms of the names we have picked?

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Ahmed? I know that's really common, though.

I knew a guy named Hadi, which seems pretty simple, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to pronounce for your father.

behindthename.com has a huge list of Arabic names: http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/ara.php

Good luck!

i did look at that website previously but it mostly holds the more common names. thank you though for your help. Also, Ahmed is his cousin's husband's name? Someone in the family has it...i can't quite remember who...

Yeah, unfortunately all the Arabic guys I know are Ahmed, Mohammed, Hussein, or Abdul. All extremely common. :-\

Someone in one of the comments down there mentioned Khalid, which I really like, but that might be too common as well.

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his father's name is Nasir. but i do love malik.

Right now, i think we've agreed on the names
Aden Duy
Samir Thanh

Inara Mai-Le
Leyla De-An
Azra Quyen (except his aunt's name is Azra and we can't decide if it would be okay to name our child after her...there are other family members, both his and mine who would be offended if we named our child after someone else in the family and not time...i'm sorry but i have over 100 people in my family...i can't make that many children come out of me! o.O)

In all honesty, i really just wanted american names for our children so that someone would just pronounce their name properly. if that makes sense...i just dont want my children to feel like they have funny names...

i do like eleanor but again, someone in the family has the name. i've got 100 first cousins alone on my mom's side...i haven't a clue about my dad's side...his family is slightly smaller but it still doesnt really help...

naming our kids have become this huge pain in the butt and just keeps coming up in conversation with us. we're not even thinking about actually having these kids we're naming for at least a few years!

I like Leyla and Samir.

I like Leyla.

I love Arabic names,I have tons of arabic friends, most have names that people have no trouble pronouncing..

My best friends brothers name is Samir, a nickname for that can be Sami.

For boys I like ..

Kalil
Khalid
Abdullah
Omar
Amir
Rami
Shadi
Akeem
Halim
Jabir
Jamal
Jalil
Kamal
Qadir
Riyad
Shafiq
Tahir
Tariq

For girls I like..

Aisha
Alaia
Alina
Amina
Amira
Jamila
Kamilah
Karida
Karima
Laila
Maysa
Naila
Sana
Salima
Zahra

Isam/Wisam
Sofian/Souffien
Aziz
Omar
Nabil
Adil
Amar
Nadim
Nizar
Shakir/Shakeel
Tarik
Said
Rafe
Rafik (its meaning is 'friend'! =D Just thought that was nice)
Samih

And as for Chinese/Vietnamese names, how about...

Boys:
Cái
Enlai
Mai
Rui
Sheng
Yuan

Girls:
Chun
Dié
Jia
Lien
Liang
Yen
Minh
Thu
Lei

Good luck! =)

Hey Julie,

There are some really nice Arabic names out there, but first, I'm wondering specifically which letters or sounds your dad has a hard time pronouncing (and should therefore be eliminated if possible)? You're looking for both boy and girl names, right?

I'm wondering with the suggestions of Muhammad and Ahmed if guttural sounds would be okay? I'm guessing not.

Also, if you don't mind saying, what are some of the names in your families already that might work (just as a reference for names you like).

Good luck,

Maya

to be honest, he has issues with any pronounciation of letters that fall outside of the vietnamese alphabet. he pronounces everything like its supposed to be vietnamese.

Most of my family has vietnamese names. those of us who have american names also have a vietnamese name that we go by so the adults have never had to deal with pronouncing difficult names.

after talking things over last night with the mister, we kinda decided that we would just give our children vietnamese names and my parents can call them by that instead.

That sounds like a good solution, especially since it's what they themselves did and would give your kids a nice sense of culture.

One of the reasons I asked is that I am in Israel, but my family is in the US, so even though there are some really great Israeli names, I have to take into consideration things that sound okay with an American accent (and likewise if it were to be an American name-- unlikely-- something that would sound okay in Hebrew).

Sounds like we have similar challenges. I'll be interested to hear what you end up choosing.

your post made me laugh. that is so cute about your father. :] if he can't say julie i guess jamal would be out of the question?

some arabic names i like

girls

A'in - Eye, thus "precious"
Amani - Wishes, aspirations
Hana' - Happiness
Jamilah - Beautiful, graceful, lovely
Kamilah - Perfect
Layla, Leila - (Born at) night
Muna, Mona - Wish, desire
Sabah - Morning
Safiyyah - Untroubled, serene, pure, best friend
Souad
Zahirah - Shining, luminous

boys

Amir - Prince
Bishir - Joy
Hisham - Generosity
Jalil, Jaleel - Great, revered
Khalid, Khaled - Eternal
Khalil, Khaleel, Kalil - Beautiful, good friend
Majid - Glorious
Nabil, Nabeel - Noble
Rafi - Exalting
Sa'ad - Good luck
Salah - Righteousness
Tahir - Pure, clean
Yasin, Yaseen - One of Muhammad's names
Zaki - Intelligent

Leyla De-An < win. Use it.

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Arab/Chinese Names

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Re: Arab/Chinese Names

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